Monday, 28 June 2010

Having read both Machiavelli's and Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Princes, I think i much prefer the littler, piccolo prince. Ah life - is what you choose to make of it, after all. And its pretty darn short, too (to waste on Machiavellian machinations - in search of... what?)

Monday, 21 June 2010

is a very working class neighbourhood of flats and flats rising up in seeming claustrophobic despair after being evicted from my hall of residence on campus. It looks pretty grim. But the rent's cheap, and i have a year to stay, until i finish my final year.

But appearances are always deceiving. There's always something more to it, and in any case, there's always plenty to learn. In this sense its like travelling again, and opening myself up to something new, learning and growing. （三人行必有我师）

As of now, i'm done with my work, and have "earned" myself a two month plus break (the carefree life of an undergrad - the last year! at (melancholic) times it feels like i have only one year left to truly live). The mission this time is Kosovo - the highlight of the trip, starting in Dubai (stopover), to Istanbul - Sirkeci Station (back again!), for the train ride into Sofia, and then all the way up to Budapest, Hungary. Taking in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Slovenia, Croatia...

This is certainly going to bump up my number-of-countries-visited-count ;)

Friday, 4 June 2010

Can't we see beyond our petty tribal differences and live together in peace? For surely there are more things that bind us together than tear us apart - the desire for peace, for love, and the strength and grace of the human spirit to do good. Surely this is more important than speaking a different language or having a different skin colour or even praying to a different God - which God does not teach the message of good, anyway?

Rockets and gunfire - we all bleed the same blood, shed the same tears, feel with the same human heart.

Like piling fresh fruits into a bottomless basket - You enjoy it, cherish it when it is, let go when it is not.

In harmony with yourself and your world, you create meaningful transactions with the world.

And each of us may come to enjoy different fruits more and see many different fruits - some bitter, some sweet, some funny-tasting, but all part of this life, being unique in our own individual interactions and harmonies with ourselves and the world.

But all of us have the potential to live our lives to the fullest - to our life's own potential. For a significant life is a meaningful life, and a meaningful life is one lived in contemplation and a compassionate understanding of one's own self, and one's world. Not one based on pretense, and built on illusion, and forced. But one built on harmony (with oneself and others); only then can we truly claim to be making the best of this life - otherwise, your world must be really tiny! ;)

For the only way is to care. It is making the best of this life - making it significant - by living consciously and in harmony, making the best of what we have, finding meaning in man's inevitable good and bad fortune, and our different, unique lives.

The richness of the Tao - truly infinite. True simplicity (of the mind!) is true richness - for when you realise there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

William Blake - "He who kisses Joy as it flies / Lives in eternity's sunrise"

What

Who

A vagabond by choice, wandering along Life. Favourite hideouts include the Lao PDR, sipping a Beerlao by the Mekong in laidback Vientiane, or scribbling thoughts at a bakery by the Nam Phu fountain. Then there's fantastic karst mountains and neverending paddy fields in Vang Vieng, and tubing down it all, a Beerlao in hand along the tinkling clear waters of the Nam Song - another beautiful day. Further south there is the Cambodian coast - my introduction to backpacking and the feeling of freedom that lying on the beach at night, in a foreign land, listening to waves coming in, and looking across the sea into the night brings. After India (a trip for the soul), it’s Pokhara, Nepal, for a spot of tranquility, musing by a mirror-clear lake where entire Himalayan panoramas can be glimpsed on a crisp, clear morning - perfect for strolls and rowing out to the World Peace Pagoda. And its fairytale buildings, fantastic dining (paradise, overlanding from India - motivation that kept us going on the long ride from Varanasi winding up the hills in the monsoon to Pokhara), music piping from the stores on Lakeside. And of course anywhere in the Middle East, especially vibrant, groovy Istanbul!